I live in Mobile, AL and our Probate Court Records were housed in the attic
and basement of an old 19th century courthouse that has since been replaced
and that one is scheduled to be replaced I have heard. I am only familiar
with two of the most recent Probate Judges who have made gigantic efforts
with the help of some dedicated staff to save the records of this 300 year
old city. And believe me there are plenty of them. Some of the records date
back to the 1700's. Some of the records are now online, e.g. marriage
records, and some of those you can view, not the actual record but the
information with it such as parents of the bride and groom. The archives
staff at the Probate Court are in the process of indexing various records
and they are being microfilmed by the LDS library so that they will be
available for future research. There is a dedicated group of volunteers
helping with the project. I don't know what the person in charge of the
Switzerland County record's problem is since they are not being maintained
in a safe environment but it sounds like a little bit of turf war. It
sounds like this person would rather that the records deteriorate than put
them on some kind of deposit with an organization that would protect them.
I hope that the letter writing campaign from citizens of the county will
result in the protection of those important records. I was fortunate in
receiving a copy of a marriage record several years ago so I know what the
citizens of Switzerland County will lose if the records are not preserved.
Good luck. Iras Smith
----- Original Message -----
From: <BobWScott(a)aol.com>
To: <INSWITZE-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 7:38 PM
Subject: Re: [INSWITZE] Saving the Switzerland County records- Please Help -
State Arc...
Having been in the Switzerland County courthouse basement a couple of
times,
I am fully in support of these efforts. Not only are they in bad
conditions,
there is no system to where books are placed. Ther eis no security,
anybody
could walk out with them in any time. I think if the courthouse is
short
of
space, they should be moved to the county historicl society. That
has
happened in Ripley County and does work quite well, lthough the hours are
more limited, at least the conditions are far better. The conditions are
also not very good for a researcher who wants to work.
I would like to point out the contrast to the Switzerland County Health
Department which has done a bang up job in computerizing death records.
I would also recommend people worried about this issue should write
letters
to the editor of the Vevay Reveille urging that some action be taken.
Since I
leave 750 miles away, it's a bit to difficult for me to do
otherwise.
Bob Scott